1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a character input apparatus which is capable of calling a design form having a sample text input in advance therein and then editing contents of the sample text, and a tape printing apparatus incorporating the character input apparatus as well as to a character input method.
1. Prior Art
Recently, there has been proposed a character input apparatus (such as a word processor) that stores in advance design forms (templates) prepared assuming various uses, and enables a user to readily and easily prepare a document which meets the user's needs by calling a design form according to an intended use and inputting required data items into the same. Further, a tape printing apparatus is also widely used which stores a plurality of design forms and enables a user to produce various labels according to uses intended by users.
In the tape printing apparatus of the above-mentioned kind, e.g. in a process of making a label to be affixed to such a floppy disk as shown in FIG. 20A, a user selects a design form intended for the floppy disk and then causes an entered form illustrated e.g. in FIG. 20B to be displayed on a display screen. In this example, an upper area of the screen is allocated to a print image display section for displaying an image to be printed on a tape, and a lower area of the same is allocated to a text display section for displaying an edited state of an entered text. Text entry is started at a location immediately after a cursor K (“L” (short for letter) mark) displayed in the text display section. A numeral in white against black at the head of each line represents the line number of a character string, and a triangle mark displayed in white against black on the right side of the numeral, with one of its vertexes directed rightward, indicates that a specific format is set for the line.
In a state shown in FIG. 20B, the user operates a keyboard and the like while viewing a image displayed on the screen, to enter desired characters, such as letters and symbols (see FIG. 20C). Then, after entry of all character strings (three strings in this example) (see FIG. 20D), a printing process is executed, whereby it is possible to make a label having a predetermined size suitable for affixation to the floppy disk. In this case, the label size (tape length) is preset as shown in FIG. 20A, and hence the user can obtain a nice-looking label with ease without carrying out troublesome setting of the tape length.
However, when a design form is called for label making, no text is displayed in the print image display section at a stage of FIG. 20B before text entry, so that the user cannot obtain a print image of a character or a character string until the character or the character string is entered. In short, the user is given no idea of what text should be entered or where a text should be entered. Therefore, the user has to enter a character or a character string on a trial basis to view a print image thereof in the print image display section, and then retry character input when the result of the text input is not pleasing, or alternatively carry out character input while viewing samples of text entry to the design form e.g. by consulting an instruction manual.